


Should Let Go (Can't Let Go)

by Lumeleo



Series: His Own, His Always [1]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alpha Akutsu Jin, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Omega Dan Taichi, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 13:39:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17529749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumeleo/pseuds/Lumeleo
Summary: Akutsu knows he's too much of a mess to be worthy of Taichi. However, he can at least not repeat the mistakes of his sire.





	Should Let Go (Can't Let Go)

Something was bothering Taichi.

Of course, the brat would never admit that, trying to smile as always, but Akutsu knew him better than that by now. He wasn’t going to push, knew Taichi probably had his reasons for not talking yet, but he figured it would not take long. Taichi had never been good at keeping things to himself, especially when he was upset. Whatever was eating him was bound to come spilling out soon enough.

Right now Taichi was curled up to his chest, hardly paying any attention to the TV blaring on in the background. Not that Akutsu was, either. He was too busy holding onto his little mate, making sure to leave his scent all over Taichi’s hair, breathing in as much of Taichi’s smell as he could. All too soon Taichi would have to return to his perfect little life, too pure and too beautiful to ever belong here in Akutsu’s shithole of an apartment. Taichi claimed to love it, kept bringing along little trinkets and other things to decorate, but Akutsu knew better. Taichi deserved so much better, he deserved a nice little house in the suburbs like his perfect little family, not a hole that was probably smaller in total than Taichi’s childhood bedroom. He needed someone who could properly take care of him, not a failure scraping by on a part-time job that was barely keeping him afloat. And yet, as long as Taichi returned into his arms, Akutsu knew he was powerless to turn him away.

Taichi’s shoulders trembled, and Akutsu realized with a startle that Taichi was crying.

“Taichi?” He tightened his arms around his mate, just a little. “Hey, talk to me. Who do I need to kill?”

As expected, that brought out a teary chuckle. Taichi had long since stopped trying to tell him not to say such things, as they both knew Akutsu didn’t truly mean them. Well. Most of the time he didn’t. Still, he would have killed for Taichi’s sake without a moment’s thought, and he suspected Taichi knew that.

“Seriously, though.” Akutsu reached for the remote, fiddling with the unresponsive buttons until he finally managed to turn the TV off. “You know I don’t fucking like it when you cry. So if anything needs a beating, tell me.”

“It’s… not that simple.” Taichi sniffled. “You don’t actually want to hear it.”

“Bullshit.” Akutsu snorted. “Whatever it is, I can fucking take it.”

“I know. I just… I don’t want you to hate me.”

“Taichi.” Akutsu hid his face in Taichi’s messy hair for a moment, breathing in the familiar scent of it. His mate, his own, his always. Or at least until Taichi realized what a horrible mistake he’d made. “If it was possible for me to hate you, trust me, it would’ve happened years ago. At this point, you’re fucking stuck with me until you kick me to the curb.”

“You — you say that now.” Taichi hiccuped, then finally moved. Akutsu let him go, allowing Taichi to straddle his lap. Taichi actually met his eyes level, sitting like this, though standing up he was still somewhat shorter. “Do you promise, then? That you’re not going to hate me?”

Akutsu wanted to say something snide, but the teary eyes made him hold his tongue. Instead, he reached over to brush a lock of hair away from Taichi’s tear-wet cheeks. “I swear.” He wasn’t good at this sort of thing, never had, but he figured he could at least give Taichi his honest promise if nothing else. “You are my mate, Taichi. I could never hate you.”

Taichi bit his lip, apparently still hesitating. At last, he let his eyes drop, drawing a breath. “I… I think I’m pregnant.”

Akutsu’s world came to a complete halt.

He was only half looking at Taichi, now, too caught up in a flood of memories. He remembered all the whispers and gazes when people thought he wouldn’t notice, all the times his mother had forced herself to smile even though there was nothing to be happy about. He remembered all the questions without answers, remembered looking at random faces in the crowd and wondering if one might turn out to be familiar, remembered bitter tears and always, always wondering.

He drew a breath to calm himself, longer and deeper than perhaps ever before, and focused on Taichi. This was what mattered, here and now and in the future. He couldn’t do shit about the past, but Taichi was still here.

“What do you mean, think? Are you not sure?”

“I mean… I haven’t actually seen a doctor yet. But, um, I’ve been feeling awful a lot lately, and I took three different tests and they were all positive, and the chances of three false positives is — you know what, you don’t care about that, I’m just rambling right now. Um.” Taichi rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve. “S-sorry. What I mean is, I — yeah, I’m pretty sure."

“Sounds like you’ve got your data, huh.” Akutsu paused. “Well, fuck.”

“I’m — I’m sorry.” Taichi was crying again, the little idiot. “I don’t know how it happened, I know we’ve been careful, I never meant —”

“Hey.” He leaned forward to interrupt Taichi with a kiss. “Why the fuck are you apologizing? I’m the one who got you in trouble, not the other way around.”

“You… you mean you’re not mad at me?” Oh, yes. Definitely a little idiot.

“The only thing I’m mad about is that I’ll actually have to get a proper job now. And that’s nothing to do with you, that’s just because job hunting is fucking awful.” Akutsu snorted, running his hands along Taichi’s arms to hopefully calm him down. “You can say all you want this shithole’s not that bad, but like fuck am I bringing a kid into this place."

“Huh?” Taichi blinked in apparent confusion, tears shining in his eyes. “You mean… you’re going to help me?”

“You really are a fucking idiot, huh.” Akutsu shook his head. “No, I’m not going to ‘help’. That sounds like it’s all your responsibility and I’m just pitching in. I’m going to do my fucking duty like a proper alpha and take care of you and our pup.”

Taichi’s lips trembled, the tears overflowing again. “Jin-san? You — you’re not going to — to leave?”

“Fuck no.” Akutsu frowned. He knew he wasn’t the best at showing his feelings, but did Taichi really think so lowly of him? “I’m not going to be like my shithead of a sire. Don’t think I’m going to be very good at the whole family shit, and fuck knows you could do way better than me. Still, if you really think I’m worth sticking around for, I’m going to do my fucking best.”

Taichi stared at him for another moment, then surged forward to hug him in a death grip. Akutsu wrapped his arms around Taichi again, holding him close. He buried his face in Taichi’s hair once again, swallowing as he thought of a life growing inside Taichi, a little pup made up of the two of them. Maybe Taichi’s heart could make up for all the flaws in Akutsu’s genes.

“You’re going to be the best dad ever,” he murmured into Taichi’s ear. “And I’ll work myself to the fucking bone if I need to so you can raise them right.” Just like his mother had exhausted herself to raise him, except she’d never had anyone by her side.

Taichi cried for a while, still, but Akutsu was happy to keep holding him.


End file.
